Is this Duckweed?

This is a discussion on Is this Duckweed? within the Beginner Planted Aquarium forums, part of the Beginner Freshwater Aquarium category; -->
I have no idea where these came from, literally no clue at all they just seemed to have popped up over night.
I have ...

I have no idea where these came from, literally no clue at all they just seemed to have popped up over night.

I have been dumping my aquarium water out in a brick planter outside, it's like 10 gallons a night pretty much since I'm cycling my 20 gal aquarium. The water stays in the planter but then seeps out the bottom onto the concrete after a day or so. Then I changed it up and was only dumping the water out just on the patio at night so the majority of it will evaporate before morning.

Today while bringing groceries in I noticed on the little puddles next to the planter these little guys were growing and I got really excited because they look just like Duckweed and I've wanted that plant for a few years now and i've never got it.

I picked some up and put them in a Betta cup and brought them inside for a little photoshoot.

What do you think? It just popped up out of no where, I've never seen any in this area (southern California in the city) so it just seemed random that it would show up like this.

There's still a bit more sitting outside. I'm thinking about putting some in a bowl, some a planted some floating and setting it next to some sunlight or next to the aquarium so it gets some light and see if either of them survive. Be a nice little experiment i think.

I quite like them whatever they are. They look similar to a handful of little plants.

It looks very similar to your plants. Google duckweed, then click Images. Compare what you have to the pix. This is an invasive weed, so if you have it or get it, be extremely careful not to let it loose. Check some of the pix to see what it can do to a lake or pond in a very short period. That said, it is a cute tiny floating plant.

I have, i've looked into Duckweed and it does look similar but not so much so now that I've really been looking at other plant types. Having looked at it for awhile now I'm pretty sure it's actually Baby Tears because of the way some of the leaves are growing off of eachother. That would also explain why it just popped out of no where seeing as how that plant seems to grow out of anything.